Shyness to the Extreem
by Contagious-Anime-Obsession
Summary: I've never done a OC story before, but I felt like it this time. So, Ari is a 4th year student at Hogwarts, but she's super shy, looks like shes 9, and it's actually only her 1st year because her mom refused to let her go until now. But her shyness soon gets her to befriend Draco Malfoy, and change him for the better.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so, this is the 4****th**** year, but I basically ignore the tri-wizard tournament for the most part.**

Warning: its implied just a little bit that my OC's mom emotionally abuses her 

(cause she does) but only a tad, and the rest is mostly comical.

Ch. 1 Background

Dumbledore was starting to get doubaly (I like making up words :D) concerned. Like most muggle-born student accepted to Hogwarts, they had sent a letter and then a teacher when the girl was 11. But her mother had point-blank shot down all attempts to let the girl attend Hogwarts.

So, for the first year, the girl was left at home with needed supplies (Olivander personally visited her house, and her mother liked him a little too much) and homework was sent via owl. All work was returned with okay results and she seemed to be understanding the majority of it through letters to and from teachers.

Dumbledore had sent McGonagall the second year to try and convenes the girl's mother to send her to the school and she was shot down. By, McGonagall being McGonagall, she noticed a few things. The family only consisted on the mother and the girl. The mother seemed friendly, though stern, and seemed to just show a lot of concern for her daughter going away. At first the teacher thought that the mother didn't want to be alone when her daughter left.

But that wasn't the case.

In cat form, McGonagall watched the house. It was a large fancy, rich house. At just before dark, the girl's mother sent her to go upstairs and do her homework. She demanded, very accusingly, that the girl touch or break nothing. Then a man showed up and the mother pranced off with him and didn't come back until almost noon the next day.

All was reported to Dumbledore, but they couldn't do anything.

Summer before 4th year

Last years attempt had also failed, and so Dumbledore was ready to pull out his harsh card. So he sent Snape.

First, the mother was friendly. Then she was WAY friendly, and TOTALLY trying to come onto him. The she got stern.

"I've told you people a thousand times, NO NO NO!" My daughter isn't going to some school out in the middle of nowhere." She said, starting to get angry. But this wasn't one of the teachers she had delt with before; this was Snape. "Listen, muggle. Your daughter needs to learn magic. Not just book work and essays, but real personally-taught, MAGIC."

In the doorway, a small girl peeked her head around the corner. She couldn't be more than 10 probably, and she was smaller than most fist-years. Snape turned to look at her and she flinched. "You have a second child?" he asked, toneless.

The mother snorted. "No." she said, sounding discusted. She got up to grab the girls arm and pull her into the room. "This is my only daughter." Snape would have been shocked if he had emotions. ( XD ) The girl who he had taken to be around 9 or 10, was really the 14 year old girl he had come for. Ari Token, 14, had blondish-brown hair, startled grey eyes, and the look of a child.

"Ari Token." He said, still toneless, ut more interested now. "Good, now we can ask her if she wants to go to school, and I can get on with my night." Her mother looked shocked at Snape's words. "You cant just let her DECIDE." She said as if he had said they were going to kill her. "Yes we can, and we ARE going to."

Both adults looked at the girl. "Decide." They both said, and the girl looked ready to cry. In fact, she did. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she also smiled. "I want to go." She said, quietly. Her mother just snapped. "You WORTHLESS girl! How do you think your going to SURVIVE anywhere but HERE? You're a CHILD, always messing things up and never speaking." Her mother sighed dramatically. "But at least you'll be out of my hair. So, fine."

As Ari ran up stairs to pack her stuff, Snape and her mother had a death-glare compotition. I think they tied for World Championship.

A few minutes later, they heard a loud thunk by the stairs and turned to see that the little girl had tripped over her luggage and fallen off the stairs. She had fallen stomach-first onto her suitcase, and didn't seem to be hurt.

Her mother sighed like it was the most annoying thing in the world and wwent to pull the girl to her feet. She handed Snape the bag, said "Try not to die." To her daughter, and then pushed them out the front door.

Snape put a hand on her shoulder and, without warning, diapperated to just outside the school boundry. Ari feel to her knees on impact, caught her breath, and then stood up without a word.

With a flick of his wand, Snape levitated the bags, and then they set off towards Hogwarts and Ari's 1st yet 4th (sooo confusing) year of Wizarding School.


	2. Chapter 2 - Mr Hat!

Okay, so the this chapter and maybe one or two after are the chapters were she gets use to Hogwarts, befriends random members of the original cast, and makes one or two accidental enemies that lead up to her befriending Draco.

Ch. 2 Mr. Hat and pretty stars.

Dumbledore almost tackled Ari in a hug when Snape arrived at his office with her. She shielded away from him, flinching and looking about to cry. McGonagall was quick to break the tension. "Ari, welcome. Have you been keeping up with your work?" she said in a quiet, calm voice. Ari looked a little less scared and looked at the teacher with intrest. She nodded her head in response.

Dumbledore returned to his former perfessional self. "Severus, would you get the Sorting Hat for me, please. I think we should do it now instead of mixing her in with the 1st years." He side-wispered to McGonagall, "Though she looks even younger than a 1st year." The woman nodded, looking at the tiny girl.

Ari would be concdered tiny if she was a 10 year old. McGonagall made a mental note to make Albas make her head-of-house watch her closely.

Snape came back with the sorting hat. For a minute, the teachers thought Ari would shield away from the hat too, but she squeeled in delight and pointed at it. "Can I wear it?!" she asked, looking at Snape with huge, pleading eyes. He almost smiled… almost.

"But it on, and it will chose what house your in." Dumbledore said. She eagerly through it on her head, and it was so big that it feel down to her nose. _What do we have here?_ The hat asked, and Ari giggled. 'What's your name?' she thought to it. _I'm simply known as the Sorting Hat. I've been alive longer than anything else in this castle, even the ghosts!_ That caused the little girl to giggle again. _So what do you hold? You hold shyness to the extreme, a willingness to help others, wanting to push your limits, creativity, and passion. You may be the 1__st__ person in over 500 years to have the traits of all of the houses. But you have a secret. _'Yes.' She replied, sounding sad. 'Mom said that's what makes me undesirable, and stupid, and useless. It's all because I'm…' _I know. _The hat said before she finished. _I know everything about you._

_And so, I have desided you shall be in…SLYTHERIN!_ The teacher's clapped for her and she smiled. "Bye bye." She told the hat before handing back over to Snape. "So, you'll be with Perfesser Snape." Dumbledore explained to her. "Students arrive tomorrow afternoon, so you can get set up early. If you would, Snape." The Head Master motioned to the emo head-of-house to take her to the dorms.

Snape and Ari walked out of the office just as Madame Pomfry ran up. "Oh, Severus! I accidently destroyed half of my inventory and you're the only one I know who can remake it fast enough!" She said hurrdley, on the edge of panic. "Alright." He said, not happy in the least. "You take Ms. Token here to the Slytherin dormitory for me and I'll go take a look."

So now Ari ws following another teacher. As they got to the moving stair, which Snape had explained to her on the way up to the office, something caught the girls attention. Just before a different set of stairs moved, she jumped on them. "Ms. Token!" Yelled the nurse as she saw what had happened.

Several minutes later, Madame Pomfrey burst into the Head Master's office. "Is something wrond, Madam Pomfrey?" Dumbledore asked. "I…I…I LOST THE GIRL!" Madam Pomfrey said. For a moment the Head Master was stunned. "Well, lets find her."

Four house later, at around midnight, they found her sleeping in the astronomy tower. McGonagall went to pick her up. "I guess she wanted to look around. I'll take her from here."

McGonagall left, leaving Severus and Dumbledore in the Tower (pre-desha vu?). "I have a feeling that this girl is going to make the year….quiet interesting." Albus said, smiling. Snape nodded, looking _slightly_ less excited. "I have a feeling your right."

* * *

Oh, dear. We may have little troublemaker on out hands now. But we'll forgive her (at least most of us) cause she's **SO DARN CUTE!**


	3. Chapter 3 - I don't like you

_Hey, anyone ever notice that the moving stairs were only showed in the 1__st__ movie? I don't even remember reading about them in the other books. Shame, really, cause they were always my favorite magical thing in Hogwarts. 2__nd__ was the forest and then the Whomping Willow_

Chapter 3

Ari woke up, screaming, from a dream in which she was burning. She was surprised to NOT hear her mother yelling at her to shut up and go back to sleep. At first, she thought her mother was out for the night. Then she remembered where she was.

She sat up fast, then hopped out of her bed with a huge smile on her face. It was still about an hour before dawn, so the entire castle was dim. Ari slipped on her slippers and left the room in the nightgown she had put on when McGonagall had brought her to her room late last night. Quietly, she went out of the room, down the stairs to the empty common room, and out the secret door. The Slytherin common room door was hidden in a brick wall down in the dungons.

Out in the hallway, it was cold. But Ari loved the cold air. She ran along the hallway, up the stairs, until she was in the main entrance hall. Then she had two choices: out the door or up the stairs. She choose stairs (because that went SO well last time, right?).

She went up the stair case in the main entrance hall, took a right, and went through the door at the end of the hallway. THAT lead her into the giant hallway with moving stairs.

She took the stairs upwards, one level at a time. She went around, looking at each of the classrooms. Of course, they were all locked, but she didn't even hesitate a moment to use the unlocking spell to get in. On the third floor, in the room labeled Muggle Studies, she found a ghost.

This ghost was barely transparent, and had a wicked grin on his face. Plus, he was writing cuss words all over the blackboard at the front of the room. He was very organized for a trouble-maker, she realized. He had the cuss words in lists by the number of letters they used.

The ghost hadn't seen her come in, and she startled him when she spook up. "You missed one." She said. The ghost jumped a bit, and turned around. "Who are you, little girl?" asked the boy-ghost. He looked like a teenager, but his figure was twisted and looked more like a cartoon character than a person. "Ari; you missed one."

She pointed to the four-letter category and spelled out a nasty word that sent the ghost into very loud giggles. "Nasty mouth you got there, little girl." He said, writing it down. "Who are you?" she asked him. "I'm Peeves, the Poltergeist!" He shouted, giggling like a mad man.

"Pol…ter..geist?" she asked, sounding it out slowly. Then she pointed at him, like a child. "Ghost!" she said happily. "No, poltergeist." Peeves growled back. "Ghost!" Ari giggled. They continued on like that, growing louder and louder. Peeves became increasingly irritated while Ari found it more and more funny.

About half an hour later, man could be heard yelling "PEEVES! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Over and over again from the hallway. "Oops, got to scramble." Peeves said, grinning wider than the Cheshire Cat. "Lets play again soon, little girl."

Bored with looking (or should I say, breaking-into) rooms, Ari snuck past the old grey haired man with a cat, and ran out the front door. Straight out the front foor was a huge forest, on the edge of it and to the left of where she stood was a cabin, and to the right of her place was a big field with a tree. On the back side of the school, where she couldn't see, she knew there was an entrance to a town called Hogsmead or something like that.

So, as the sun started to rise, she went towards the cabin, though I'm sure she was more interested in the winged horse out in its garden than the actual place itself.

Ari was literally hanging over the fence when a HUGE man walked out the front door with a watering can in his hand. "Hmm?" he sorta-said, looking at the tiny girl. "What are you doing here, little child?" he said, after a moment.

"Hi!" she said, waving (Yeah, she's a really _weird_ kid). "I'm Ari. Ari Token." The half-giant looked curiously at her. "I'm Hagrid. Students don't arrive till five o'clock tonight. What is a first year like you doing here?" the grounds-keeper said. "Oh, I'm not a first year. I mean, this is my first year at Hogwarts, but I'm a 4th year."

Hagrid's jaw literally dropped. "Fou…fourth year?" he asked, to which she nodded. "But your so…_tiny._" He said. Ari just giggled. "Yep! I'm turning 15 in November." She told him.

Looking up, she saw that the sun had fully risen. It was probably about 9 o'clock by then. Suddenly, they heard a voice coming from the school. "Ms. Token! Ms. Token!" the old man from earlier was yelling. "She's over here, Filch!" Hagrid yelled.

"THERE you are, the man said, grabbing her by the arm. "Dumbledore has been looking all over for you. He wants you to get ready for tonight." Filch continued to murmur on about school life as he dragged her back to the school.

Argus Filch was the 1st person at Hogwarts that Ari decided she did NOT like in the least.


	4. Chapter 4 - 1ST DAY FOOD-FIGHT

_Okay, so this is a really short chapter I put in for Humor. I'm in the middle of my "State English Testing" so I probably wont update until like Friday. Unless I'm really bored during testing and come up with ideas XD_

* * *

Chapter 4

Ari struggled through robe fittings and schedule dealings for what felt like forever and a half. Add that to lunch time and it was almost time for the students to arrive.

Ari watched the student, years 2-7, filter through the door…from behind Snape's chair. Dumbledore stood up to call in the 1st years when Snape held up his hand to tell him to wait a moment. "We have a slight problem. Or should I say, _short_ problem." The entire staff table laughed as Ari jumped up from behind his chair. "I am NOT short." She exclaimed.

When the hall of students laughed she blushed bright red, and put her head down shyly. "Token, get to your table." Snape said. He tried to sound angry, but his tone came out amused instead. Ari shyly went to her table and sat closest to the back of the room as she could.

The 1st years came, were sorted, and then the food arrived. Ari gasped as it appeared. She'd eaten their at lunch, but she's eaten at the staff table, which wasn't on such a large scale as what she was seeing right then. Then the ghosts swooped in, causing the students to laugh and point. A certain ghost, covered in what seemed to be colorless blood, emerged from her plate.

She tilted her head curiously to the side. "How come you're more see-through than the other ghost?" Ari asked him. The Bloody Barren looked at her in the same curious manner as she looked at him. "What other ghost?" he asked. "I AM NOT A GHOST!" A high pitched voice screamed across the dinning hall.

Peeves swooped down from the ceiling that looked like a sky. "For the last time, little girl: I. AM. A. POLTREGIST!" Most of the students were terrified, ducking under table and such to avoid Peeves' wrath. But Ari just laughed. "Not likely." She giggled. "You little snake!" Peeves yelled again, and flung a plate of food at her before disappearing into the floor.

She smiled at the Bloody Barren. "THAT ghost." She said.


	5. Chapter 5 - Friends and Foes

Chapter 5

After dinner, everyone went back to their houses. Ari smiled and skipped along, not noticing the points or looks from the other girls.

"She looks like a first year."

"Did you _see_ the way she treated the ghosts?"

"What kind of person can stand Peeves? He's disgusting!"

"Not even us Slytherins get treated like that by Snape."

"She thinks she's better than us."

The mean and cruel things the girls said seemed to hide from Ari's ears. Like they were running away, trying to protect her. But they weren't unheard by Draco Malfoy. He had used a lot of insults in his short life time and never regreted more than a handful. But the things they were saying seemed…wrong, to him somehow.

The girl hadn't done anything wrong. She did seem annoyingly happy, though, but other than that she seemed…sweet. Draco shook his head. What an idiot! That over-happy girl was **NOT** cute!

That night, Ari woke up while all others were sleeping. She had had nightmares about the terrible things that the others had said about her. She had head them, and pretended not to. But she couldn't sleep and decided to walk around. Again.

(_She should really stop doing that!)_

She went back to the main stairs. They looked like regular stairs now, because they were asleep. They went around the perimeter of the room, all the way up to the 10th floor. That, in turn went down several hallways until coming to another, smaller, stairwell that lead to the north tower. That was were she was headed.

On the way up, she passed by two boys, maybe a year older than her and wearing cloaks with lions on them, sitting on a window seat. They didn't hear or see her, and so she silently snuck by so as to not disturb them. On the 7th floor, she ran into a slightly chubby boy. He seemed terribly upset. "Are you okay?" she asked him, startling him.

"I forgot the password." He said, pointing to a big portrait of a lady. On his cloak, was a picture of a lion. "I'm Ari, who are you?" she asked, looking at him with big eyes. "Nevile; Nevile Longbottom." He replied.

Just then, a large toad jumped out of his sleeve and onto the floor by Ari's feet. Normally, girls screamed or were groosed out by the frog, so Neville hurried to pick it up. But, because we have learned that Ari is NOT a normal girl, human, or wizard, she did no such thing. She squealed, much like she had done with the sorting hat, and scooped up the toad. "Aww, it's so cute!" She said, petting it.

Neville gave her an odd look for a second. "What house are you in, Ari?" He asked. He was guessing Hufflepuff, because they were usually the odd ones. "Slytherin," Ari said, still playing with the toad as if it were a baby.

Neville nearly choaked. "Slytherin?" he asked, stunned. Ari nodded, then remembered something. "Your locked out, right?" She asked, handing the frog back to the boy. He nodded, still shocked at her house. "I'll be right back."

The little girl flew down the stairs, and came to a stop beside the window the two boys were sitting at. "Ex…excuse me," she said, shyly, and they turned to face her. She noticed two things. One: they did indeed have lion crests on their cloaks, and two: they were identical twins. "Can we help you?" One of them asked.

"Well," she started, wringing her wrists and trying to be brave. "There's a boy upstairs that forgot the password into your house room." She said quickly. The twins nodded and stood up. "Okay, we'll go let him in." They said together. As they headed up, Ari happily kept pace with them by skipping every other step.

"Hey, Neville." One of the red-head twins said as they reached the 7th floor. "Fred, George, what are you guys doing here?" The chubby boy asked the twins. "She," Fred said, pointing a thumb at Ari. "Said you got locked out, so we came to let you in."

George turned to say the password, but Neville held up his hand to stop him. "You shouldn't say the password in front of her." He said, sounding nervous. "How come?" the twins asked. Barely more than a whisper, Neville said, "She's in Slytherin." Shocked, the twins looked back at the grinning little girl. "You are?" asked one of them.

Ari nodded happily. "Yeah! I'm a fourth year!" She said, holding out 4 fingers. All three of the boys' jaws dropped. "No way." Fred said. "Impossible." George added.

Ari continued to grin, as if she couldn't tell that they were shocked and confused. Then a little light bulb went off tin Fred's head. "You were the one talking to Peeves at dinner, weren't you?" he asked, and George grinned. "Really?"

The little girl nodded. "Yeah, he can be a meanie, but I don't know why everyone doesn't like him." The twins laughed to the verge of tears, while Neville looked about to faint. "He's pretty fun to pull pranks on." Fred said, still laughing. "And he gets on Finch's nerves." George added, in the same state as his brother. "He looks funny." Ari said, laughing quietly along with them.

She smiled one more time at them, and then half-turned towards the stairs. "I should go know, and you need to get into your rooms. See ya!" she said, and ran off down the stairs. If she thought about it, she probably wouldn't have run down the hallway of the third floor. She just wanted to see the Dark Arts room again, before she had to go back to her room. And oh, how that little choice created a BIG problem.


	6. Chapter 6 - Boggarts!

Just so you know, I'm only writing this chapter because I don't want to be hit in the face with a giant fish :D

Ch. 6

Just _one_ more look at the class room couldn't hurt. Not at allll! *sarcasm*

Not unless you count a boggart being in a wardrobe that was, strangly enough, sitting in the middle of the room. Now just because Harry Potter played with boggarts as a third year, doesn't mean that Perfessor Moody didn't have to repeat the lesson for this years third years.

Now, wither the situation turns out good or bad depends on who you ask…

She opened the (locked) classroom door, and stuck her head in. The room really was amazing! Oddly, there was a big wardrobe in the middle of the room. Normal people would be like 'why the hell is a wardrobe in the middle of my classroom?' But Ari works a _little_ different.

"Narnia!" she cried happily and ran up to the thing, wanting to fling it open.

In a huge puff of ink-black smoke, the door to the wardrobe opened itself. Ari's scream vibrated down the almost-empty hallway. _Almost-_empty. Curious, and half-frightened himself, a certain blond ran down the hallway towards the sound.

Opening the door, he saw a little girl on the floor, and a long white snake slithering out from the boggart-closet. "Ridiculous", the boy said, sounding bored, and the snake turned into whoopee-cushion. "What are YOU screaming about?" he smirked at the girl.

But when she looked up at him, she had tears in her eyes, and for some reason, that made him freeze. She scrambled to her feet, whipping away any traces of tears.

"S…Sorry!" she said, smiling. "That surprised me." The boy gapped like a fish before getting a grip on himself. "You afraid of snakes?" he said, wanting to smack himself for sounding so idiotic. The girl just smiled though. "Nope! That wasn't a snake. It was a familiar."

Even students in fourth year had heard about THEM. They were dark creatures, more powerful, rare, and treacherous than anything else ever in existence. (including he-who-must-not-be-names).

"I've never seen one," he said, continueing to say stupid things. Ari shrugged like seeing one was no big deal. "Who are you?" she asked, innocently, suddenly VERY close to the boy.

"D…" he started, clearing his throat. "Draco Malfoy; slytherin." He said, very importantly.

"Oh?" she said, batting her eyelashes. "Me too. Slytherin, that is." Draco smirked. "How _OLD_ are you?" he said, trying to tease her. "14" she said, turning in a circle, and giggling. Draco nearly fainted. "14!?" he yelled.

Suddenly Finch's voice came from the hallway. "Who's there!" the old man yelled, and the two students could see his light coming closer.

"Quick!" Ari said, grabbing Draco's wrist and hiding under the teacher's desk. "Are you seriously a 4th year?" Draco whispered to her, still shocked. "Supposedly." She said back. "This is my first yeat _here_, though, cause my mom kept me at home."

Ari turned to see Draco's big, surprised eyes looking at her. "How come?" he asked, not quiet sure why her statement bothered him so much.

"I'm not capable of being on my own. I'm going to get myself killed if I'm not careful." The tiny girl said, emotionless, like it was pure fact. "Why are you out here, then, if you're suppose to be being carful?" Draco asked.

It was a good question. Who wonders around Hogwarts in the middle of the night is their suppose to be careful. (reminds me of every Harry Potter book -_-)

"No one in my room likes me, so I came to look around. I was going to go outside, but it looked cold." _I'm sure going out side would have been much more disasterous._ Draco thought to himself.

"If it's your first year here, and you're a fourth year, then I'll teach you the robes." He said, trying to sound like it was a bother. But, instead of feeling down (that was what he was going for) she tackled him in a huge hug, giggling so loudly that Finch almost heard them.

When Finch was distracted by a Snape-shaped boggart, the two fourth-years slipped out behind him and ran back to their house common room.


	7. Chapter 7 - I SWEAR IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!

Chapter 7

"It was…hahahaha…a….hahahaha…total…" Professor McGonagall could hardly understand what George Weasly was trying to say between all his laughing. "Accident" His twin, Fred, fifished for him, before bursting into laughter, same as George.

"Then tell me what really happened." She said, getting unpatient, and sitting herself firmly infront of the two. Taking deep breathes to calm themselves, the twins looked at her with a half-serious, half-amused look. "Okay, it went like this…"

The next morning, the very first Slytherin in the Great Hall was little Ari. She sat happily at the table for over 100, smiling and humming to herself as she ate a TON of pancakes.

As the other Slytherins came in, they refused to come anywhere near her, and the fourth year girls seemed to forget about her existence all together. A couple of people _did_ notice her though: the laughing red-head twins, the clumsy Grifindor fool, the grumpy-as-usual potions master, the cheerful headmaster, and the white-blonde pure-blood boy that just walked in.

She finished her annormous amount of food before even half of the other students had arrived for breakfast, got her schedule from a proffeser and headed out the door.

The Weasly Twins, it seemed, disided that their new, and only, Slytherin friend needed a little cheering up. "Ooo" they popped up behind her as she was looking at her schedule. "Herbology first thing in the morning?" "What a bummer." She shrieked at their sudden appearance and accidetntly knocked herself off her feet, landing with a heafty _thump_ on the floor.

"Oops, sorry." Fred said, giving her a hand up. They followed her as she headed toward the green house, introducing themselves in a ubsurdly hilarious manner, and procceding to jokingly tell her about their **_entire_** ancestory. "Oh, on _our_ first day of Fourth Year Herbology we had to behead 10-foot Dragon-Flowers." One of them said, causing Ari to laugh quietly. "No, no, George. That was the _SECOND_ day. The first day we had to replant man-eating Snapper-Bulbs."

They got half way there before George snatched her schedule away from her. "Then in the dark arts room, you will be learning to slay dragons" "And in potions, Snape will be telling you the best way to boil people into delicious desserts."

Ari was laughing so hard as she snatched her schedule back and ran for the green house. "No, come back!" George yelled, laughing, as the two twins ran after her. "Let us tell you about our Irish Grand-papa!" yelled Fred in a poor attempt at an Irish accent, which came out sounding more Scottish.

Laughing and out of breath, they all pushed open the Herbology door at the same time and stumbled in.

On the other side of the door was a Fourth Year Hufflepuff, talking to a friend of his. The door swung open and before he even had time to blink, a little girl and two fifth year boys knocked into him from behind. And he landed…

Right on the other guys lips!

The entire room froze, completely silent. Once the two Hufflepuffs realized what happened they jumped away from each other, blushing like mad. Ari, being as childish as she is, stood up and pointed at them. "Those two guys just kissed!" she said, giggling. The entire room burst into laughter, including the teacher, who could barely find enough breath to tell the twins to report to Professor McGonagall after their first class.

Ari spent her first day of Herbology loving it, but she kept watching the Hufflepuff she'd bumped into. He seemed…shy. He kept blushing whenever he came anywhere close to the other guy. '_He likkkkkeeess him!'_ she thought to herself, giggling.

When she was walking up to the front of the room to put dirt in her planter, one of the other Slytherin Fourth years tripped her. She landed painfully, breaking her pot. "Ugg, watch where you're going." The girl snarled, and went to turn around.

Only to see the tip of a wand in her face.

"_You_ watch were you're putting your foot." Draco Malfoy said. The girls face went from amused to horrified in under a second. "Mr. Malfoy, please lower your wand." The Herbology teacher said, sounding bored and barley doing more than glancing up from one of the other student's plants.

Reluctintly, the blond put away his wand, before knealing down to help Ari. "Here," he said, pulling her to her feet. "Um, you're bleeding." He said, nodding to the blood on her hand. "Eh, its just a scratch." She smiled up at him. Their professor called that it was time to go, and she hurried to put her plant up on the shelf that was way to high for her.

"Pssh, pathetic." Draco said, taking it for her and placing on the shelf. Just as she left the green house, Ari saw the two Hufflepuff boys wink at each other.

"And _that's_ what really happened." Fred, George and Ari – who had shown up after they started to help out – finished together.

Professer McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Remind me never to ask for what really happened _ever_ again."


	8. Ch8 - 4 ways to complicate your life

4 ways to complicate your life Part 1

A whole month had past, and Ari desided she, must be in heaven. Even with all of the Slytherin girls still ignoring her – not that she particularly cared – she was having a great time. Draco Malfoy had become her best friend and very protective. The other people who stuck with her where: the ever-comical Fred and George, hopelessly-clumsy Neville, and Peeves was around to "lighten" the mood every now and then.

Then, in one week, everything got a bit more complicated. Afterwards, Fred and George made a joke out of it by writing the "How to complicate your life in 4 days".

** Step one, make a new enemy!**

Ari was running to class in the futile hope of _not_ being late. Rounding the corner without looking up, she ran into someone head-on. A split second later her butt hurt, and she found herself on the floor. "Sorry!" she said, jumping to her feet and looking at the guy she knocked over.

He had red hair, and another darker-haired boy was helping him up. Seeing her uniform, with it's green snake emblem on it, the guys face got as red as his hair. "Filthy Slytherin!" he yelled at her. Ari was use to yelling, even if she didn't like it very much. Her mother was _always _yelling at her because she was _always_ falling over or breaking things.

Unfaised by his loud voice or harsh words, the little girl just smiled at him.

"Don't talk to her like that, Weasley." A voice from behind the two boys said. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter spun around to face Draco.

"Ari…" He started to say, but before he could say any more, she had already scurried around the boys and hidden herself behind him with her head pokeing out from under his arm. "How nice to see you, Malfoy." The dark haired boy said, not sounding as pleased as his words implied. A sneer crossed onto Draco's face.

"Potter; Weasley." He said, glaring at them. "I see you've met Ari." He continued, feigning hospitality. But when his gaze shifted to the small girl, the glare dropped. Even though the sneer remand. "Ari, introduce yourself."

Ari stepped out from around her best friend to look at the two boys. "Hi," she said, waving at them with a cute smile. "I don't like you." She said blankly, continuing to smile. Because he couldn't help it, Malfoy burst out laughing. "Wow, and I thought _I_ was the only one." He said sarcastically once he caught his breathe.

Ron pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed it in their general direction. Even if she was a Slytherin, he had contemplations about cursing a kid. Just as Draco started to step forward and draw his own wand, Goyle came out behind him.

"No!" Draco yelled, but he wasn't fast enough. The stunning spell meant for one of the Griffindoors hit Ari in the chest, sending her to the floor. The hall way got deadly silent. Goyle stared at Malfoy in fear, Ron and Harry looked at him in antisapation to see what he would do, but Malfoy simply twisted his mouth like he was impatient.

"Would you hurry up and get up already." He said in a monotone to the girl on her back. "But that hurrrrt." She whined, sitting up and grinning. Letting him pull her up, she looked at the strange looks that she was getting from the two Griffindors. "What?" she asked. "It didn't hurt _that_ much."

Suddenly, they could hear loud, slow footsteps coming towards them. "What do you think you're doing?" Proffeser Snape asked. He got four guilty nothings in return, and one "HI!" "Get. To. Class." Snape said to them, and all the boys scampered off to do so.

"Ari," Snape said, stopping her as she followed the guys. "Proffessor Moody has informed that tomorrow's lesson will be on…familiars." Ari froze for a second, then turned to look at him with a smile on her face. "Sounds like fun," she lied through her teeth.

In the words of Fred and George: **step 2, reveal you're family history.**

Ari was so jittery the rest of the day, Draco skipped Transfiguration and pulled her out near the lake. "So what's up with you?" he said with his usual sneer. "Noothing ," Ari said, in a teaseing way. "Come on, tell me. You've been weird since potions this morning. Did that stunning curse do something to your already-messed up head?" he asked, flicking her between the eyes.

"Shut up!" she yelled giggling and swatted at his hand.

"So, what is it?" he asked again, looking determined. Ari sighed. "You've already seen some of the things I can do. Haven't you guessed that I'm not entirely human?" she asked looking at him pleadingly. "I…may have guessed." He said.

She giggled, "That's cause I'm half. Remember the night we met? With the boggart?" She asked him. "Yeah. A boggart shows you what you're most afraid of. Yours look the shape of a familiar." Draco said back, remembering. "That wasn't just _any_ familiar. It was my dad." She told him. Her smile was still on her face, but her eyes looked sad as she looked at him.

Suddenly, she giggled. "You can come out," she said to the air. "I know you heard." From a tree behind them, Fred and George appeared. "Hi," they said, hesitantly. Ari put her hands on her hips. "Hasn't you're mother ever told you not to easedrop?" she asked them in a mock-serious. "No, because she was too busy telling us not to blow stuff up." Fred said. "Not that we listened," George put in.

The three started laughing spontatiously. "What's so funny?" Draco asked, not looking the least bit amused. "Why. So. Serious!" Ari yelled, tackling him to the ground. None of the Wizards got it, and she ended up explaining her Muggle knowledge for the next hour and a half.

**Step 3: Turn a Secret into Public Knowledge **

2nd class the next day, was DADA. Ari was delivered to class, being carried by the Weasley twins, with her feet off the ground.

"Put her down," Draco growled, glaring at them. They looked at each other and smirked. "Here you go!" they yelled, pushing her toward him. She stumbled, coming to a stop _very_ near his face, and the twins ran off laughing before either of the Slytherins could yell at them.

"Sit down!" demanded professor Moody, coming in from his office. "Today's lesson is on Familiars." He growled out, and Ari visably flinched. "Does anybody here know anything about them?" he asked. Over by the wall, Hermione Granger raised her hand – this period was both Slytherin AND Grieffendor – but Moody ignored her.

"No one?" he asked, slamming his calk down on the desk. "Fine," he snapped. "Let's here from a proffetional. Ms. Ari Token, come up here." He told her.

Ari sunk down in her seat, trying to hide from all the looks she was getting. "Stop being a baby. Get up and go, Ari." Draco told her. She looked at him with terrified eyes. "It'll be fine," He said, his tone cold, but his eyes were warm.

She nodded, putting on a strong face, and went to the front of the room. "Ms. Token, tell the class what a Familiar is." Moody said, putting a hand on her shoulder in his way of comforting her. "A familiar is a shape-shifting creature who has control over fire and who's original form is a snake." She said, in voice just loud for everyone to hear.

"And what is the way to know if someone is a Familiar?" Moody asked, his magical eye staring at Ron Weasley, who had been making faces at Harry. "They have red eyes." She said keeping her gaze locked on her own feet. "What about the offspring of Familiars and humans?"

Ari flinched. She didn't answer.

"What about the offspring of Familiars and human?" Moody repeated himself, his voice gruff.

"They have a red, snake-shaped mark from their shoulder to their leg that twines around their torso." She said, keeping her voice brave.

Hermione Granger raised her hand from her seat. "Yes, Ms. Granger?" Moody asked, glaring at her. "Sir," she started, unfazed by the look he was giving her. "There's no example of that mark in our book." She said, in a voice that made Malfoy sneer.

"Lovely," Moody said sarcastically. He turned toward Ari. "Professor, don't" Draco said, standing up suddenly. "Shut UP, Mr. Malfoy." Growled Moody. "Ms. Token, if you will."

Ari raised an eyebrow at Draco, then shrugged. She was passed being nervous.

She shrugged off her robes, so that she had her black pants and long-sleeved shirt on. She lifted up her shirt him to show her stomach. The class could see part of a red line that looped around her stomach. The class suddenly burst into a lot of whispering and talking.

Ari put her shirt back down and put back on her robes. Draco went up to the front of the room. "Can we go now?" he asked, though he kept Ari between him and the professor. He'd been a little jumping since he'd gotten himself turned into a ferret. "Fine," Moody huffed. "The homework is a 6 inch essay on the abilities and recognizing their physical markers; due day after tomorrow. Ms. Token, you are excused from the homework."

The two left as the class resumed their learning. Out side the door was two very mechivious-looking red heads.

"Why aren't you two in class?" Draco asked them menisingly. "Why aren't you?" they asked right back. "_We_ were excused," the Slytherin boy said back, accusingly. "And _we_ are skipping," the twins said, mocking he's tone of voice.

"It's not like it's a big deal," Fred said. "They do it all the time," Ari said, those being the first words she had said since her "presentation." The twins wrapped an arm around each of her shoulders, looking down at her.

"How do you feel?" they asked, sounding concerned. "Fine," she said. "I knew it would be coming. And that is not the last of it." She said, matter-of-factly. "Moody will be asking me to submit myself to interviews for the next project."

"You aren't going to say yes, are you?!" George yelled, causeing the other three to jump. Ari tilted her head to one side, as if saying no was a completely foregin thing. "Why?" she asked him, getting three stares of disbelief in return. "It's simply as if someone where to ask you about the Malfoys or the Weasleys," she said.

"It will be uncomfortable and embarrassing for sure," she said with a grin, as if that idea was amusing to her. "But I see no other reason to say no. No one else likes me, besides you guys, so I have nothing left to lose," The boys continued to stare, but it was now out of admiration that disbelief.

"When was _she_ more muture than _us_?" Asked the twins. "Well, anyone would be more muture than _you_, but know she's even more mature than _me!_" Draco said, causing the twins to both hit him over the head.


	9. Ch9 - 4 ways to complicate your life 2

4 ways to complicate your life: Part 2

**Step 4: Have people interigate you about your secret**

"It is not an interagation!" Ari said, rinkling up her nose in a childish manner that made her almost unbearably cute.

All the way through lunch, the twins had been "prepping" her for what they called her "upcoming interagation." Which really meant it was that day of the class interviews on Familiars and they wanted to know all the info they wouldn't be there to hear.

"Now, if you excuse me," Ari said through a piece of toast in her mouth. "I'm going to go give Neville a head start on any questions he has because he'll be too shy to ask in class." Draco was still at the Slytherin table – as she and the twins had been standing by the door – and would meet her in class.

She hurried to the library, hoping to avoid any trouble. And, other than a narrow avoidtation with Weasley and Potter – which was because Hermione had literally pushed her into a classroom because she didn't dislike Ari like the boys did – she was successful.

"Hi, Neville!" Ari said, waving, as she walked towards the table in the back of the library where he always sat. He said it was because it was out of the way, but she knew it was because it was right next to the Herbology Section.

"Oh, hey Ari," he said, looking up from a book. "Can you believe Winter Break is only a month and a half away?" he asked. Ari shook her head, a look of discomfort crossing her face for a moment. Going home did not sound like a pleasing idea, though neither did staying here.

"Anyways, these are the questions," he said, handing her a piece of parchment. "You only have to answer the questions you want," he said quickly, his face turning red. "You know, so you don't feel akward."

Ari giggled lightly, looking him straight in the eyes. "Neville, I'm going to be standing in front of an entire class of people who don't like me in less than half an hour, answering plenty of questions more embarrassing than you could come up with," she said, amused.

She wrote all the answers to his questions down, and then explained to him the ones that were a little more compmlicated.

"Would…would you like to walk to class together?" Neville asked her as they packed their things up to leave. Ari smiled at him. "As long as you don't think you would get into any trouble for walking with a Slytherin and a Familiar." She said. After Neville had sworn that he would not get into any trouble several time, they walked to class together.

As soon as class begun, it started. Ari figured she'd put on a show.

She sat comfortably on the edge of Moody's desk – him standing by the window – and smiled at the class. It was her way of saying "come at me with all you got," and the message seemed to be clear.

Ron Weasley went first. "Would you classify a Familiar as a dangerous magical creature?" he asked. Ari got the feeling he was trying to make the class think _she_ was dangerous. But Ari really didn't care. "Yes," she said firmly. "So, would you classify _yourself_ as a dangerous magical creature?" he asked. 'Ah, there it is," Ari thought to herself, smiling.

"No," she said, saying the word slowly so as to let it sink in. "I do not have the full powers of a full-blood familiar."

Ron looked a little put out, but allowed the next person to go. "You said you don't have the _full_ powers of a Familiar. Then what powers _do_ you have?" It was a Gryfindor girl, though she didn't seem to be asking the question out of spit, like Ron.

Rather, her voice was full of genuine curiousity.

"My Familiar blood gives me resistance to most minor spells. Like a stunning curse," she said, looking pointedly between Ron and Harry, and Crabbe and Goyle. "Would only knock me over. It would probably not even knock the wind out of me. I also have a higher magical power than an average witch or wizard my age, my Familiar mark boosts defence spells, and I don't like the cold."

The questions seemed to go on and on, but Ari found that she didn't mind talking about herself. She even kind of liked it.

Finally the bombardment came to a halt, and the bell rang for the period to end. Ari was quiet happy, and literally skipped to class; winking at Neville and being followed by Draco who was shaking his head at her as if she were crazy.

_Hey, if you guys have any questions about Ari's Familiar powers, leave them in the reviews or PM them to me. _

_I'll put them in the next chapter._


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